Stuck in proc within proc hell

[madmin]

I have a gobal proc that the user supplies a name and it will first produce a left-side widget and I want to repeat
the proc within this global one -see below- before proceeding with the two.. but apparently a proc can't nest procs
within (?)...

here's what I'm talking about ;
global proc thingMaker (string $label) {
    global string name;
    [b]$name = $label;

proc someThing (string $sider) {
[/b]    [b]global string name;
[/b]    [b]string $foo = ("Cont_"+$name+"_"+$sider);
[/b]   [b]sphere -n ($foo);
}

someThing "L"; someThing "R"; //make various connections between the two etc....

} //[/b]
I tried finessing the syntax and nope, nada and nyet...
Of course there's always - duplicate-un-rc; searchReplaceNames "L" "R" "hierarchy"... )
but that's cheesy/lazy even for me... 

And I (think I) appreciate how I can globalized the someThing proc and the main one can just call
upon it twice - but is that the best/only way to go? I can't shake this nagging feeling that there are
other/better ways to subroutinize something and that I'll regret  proceeding with my pseudo-scripting
before I fully grasp how procs work, so what am I missing here...?

I've just read over 150 pages of thread titles (again) picked a few pointers I don't mind regurgitating;

• don't use global vars/procs unless you really have to..

• assign moderatelyLongNames....

-redeclare global vars within procs {redeclare global vars..}

-global vars are to be initialized and then assigned values if those are to change..

-that $cowa += $bunga is the same as $cowa = ($cowa+$bunga) but way nicer

thanks, -MM

[dbiggs]

You can't declare a procedure within a procedure.   You declare the "someThing" procedure first,  then call it within thingMaker.

proc someThing (string $sider) {
global string $name;
string $foo = ("Cont_"+$name+"_"+$sider);
sphere -n ($foo);
}

global proc thingMaker (string $label) {
global string $name;
$name = $label;

someThing "L";
someThing "R";

}
thingMaker("myThing") ;

_

[joojaa]

If you program inside a mel file then all prcedures not specifically marked global are only visible after that definition inside that file.

[madmin]

thank you both, but that's the part that's confusing - you use the term 'file' (Jooja) - does that mean a global proc can start halfway down a mel file and can summon a non-global proc that's below or above it -within that file - as per dbiggs' example?

Or iow, I know that when I call on a global proc maya is scanning the mel scripts for that term+name, but if it finds it, does it load into memory the other procs inside that file as well? Cuz that's what occured to me after posting this topic and no, it didn't work..

I winded up doing a separate global proc for the "someThing" within its own file, but it would be great to know I can collapse various ones into a single mel file...

thanks again,  -MM

[joojaa]

thank you both, but that's the part that's confusing - you use the term 'file' (Jooja) - does that mean a global proc can start halfway down a mel file and can summon a non-global proc that's below or above it -within that file - as per dbiggs' example?

Technically just things that have been declared before it, tough you may redeclare it later.

So if you have in yadaYada.mel:

proc yada(int $a){
print "yada\n";
}

global Proc yadaYada(){
yada(1);
yada(2);
}

then it works. but if you have

global Proc yadaYada(){

yada(1);

yada(2);

}

proc yada(int $a){

print "yada\n";

}

It will not work, whereas if you have:

proc yada(int $a){}

global Proc yadaYada(){

yada(1);

yada(2);

}

proc yada(int $a){

print "yada\n";

}

it works again

does it load into memory the other procs inside that file as well?

It will not be visible to any other procs in your application, it is as if the pocs were written inline inside your functions. It compiles the file so its now bytecode the local procs have no names.

[madmin]

awesome,  it just rewired my whole thinking process, many thanks for the yadeeyada... and that 'cowabunga' trick was, of course, yours from '06...it's been a hoot and an education  -MM

[joojaa]

Now days however i do try to avoid += i know form a compile optimization standpoint its a better hint for the computer than writing $a=$a+$something. However Mel is a not a optimal language, and $a=$a+$something may actually be easier to read, and expand. Suppose i discover i need to add a "\t" before $a at some point in future?

[madmin]

great to know.. and I'd edit the above to indicate as much except the 'edit' doesn't work.. but I'd love to know what you mean by introducing a "\t" to a string var... that's something I haven't encountered yet... You also do  $aaa--;  what is that?

And for what it's worth, your explanation of Mel as the cook and expressions as mini-butlers was just great, it should be stickied to a sub-topic on expressions for beginners...

Likewise elsewhere you refer to Mel as a journal-language, (which, as you mentioned, somebody else dubbed) and that was helpful as well, however, I believe Mel literally falls under the term 'stratified language'; a meta-language in programming, one riding on top of another, which, in our case, would of course be C++...

And while this trivia bit doesn't do much on its own, the idea of a meta-language in programming got me realizing that we're all, in a sense, para-scripting in Mel, defining our own terminology or 'legend' etc and as such, coming up with our own stratified language per se... I call mine ABR, short for abbreviation and also, abracadabra, lol, but ABR sure is > than ABC.

cheers, -M

[joojaa]

but I'd love to know what you mean by introducing a "\t" to a string var... that's something I haven't encountered yet...

\ heralds a escape sequence most notably

\t = tab
\r = carriage return
\n = new line
\" = the double quote character "
\ = the backlash character \

there are a few others but those are about all you need

You also do  $aaa--;

decrement $aaa by one, or simply

$a-=1  ->
$a=$a-1

there's also a similar incrementor ++

likewise the ?= operations are called in place operators and you have a number of them: *=, /=, +=, -=, %= they should now be self explanatory

Likewise elsewhere you refer to Mel as a journal-language, (which, as you mentioned, somebody else dubbed) and that was helpful as well, however, I believe Mel literally falls under the term 'stratified language';

Yes of course almost all script languages are stratified languages. However journaling is one of the subcategories of any such language. Mel is for all intent and purposes meant to make a journal so that maya knows how to undo stuff. Its just published so you can also use it to repeat stuff. So its just a stream of what the hell the actions did. Or are about to do, Coupled with a gui scripting and a few common purpose stuff + expressions and a few querries

[madmin]

damn, yes they are self-explanatory and I did know some of them, but no, it never occured to me you can skip the = altogether, that $a--; is the same as  $a-=1;

and to readers who are not sure they understood the above-

int $a = 10;
$a--;
print $a;

result; 9

perhaps worth repeating is how these functions, with the exception of addition, don't work with string variables...

And thanks for clarifying stratified / journalized...

much appreciated, -M